The first truth to accept in learning to respond in love is that you cannot control other people. The only person you can control, on a good day, is yourself. This is the fundamental principle of human freedom. Without choice, you dont have freedom. More importantly, you dont have love, which requires freedom. God chose you, loves you, and wants you to choose Him and love Him in return. This is why He gave you a free choice, even though it necessarily meant risking the rejection and devastation of a disconnected relationship. Who was the first person ever to model love for you? Did it look like control, or did it look like freedom? In your relationships, do you encourage freedom by respecting the others choices and expecting them to do the same for you? If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. (1 Corinthians 13:3-7 MSG)
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 17:34:43 +0000
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